Fert co-op extends fixed price offer
Ballance Agri-Nutrients is expanding its fixed price offer to help customers manage input costs with greater certainty over the coming season.
Banks and rural businesses are chipping in to help farmers in Southland and Otago.
Ballance Farm Nutrients general manager for customers, Jason Minkhorst, spent much of last week driving around the two provinces to get a first-hand look at effects of the Otago floods and ongoing wet in Southland.
He says he saw significant flooding on the Taieri Plains with large areas of pasture under water and says it’s hard to imagine how farmers are coping milking cows and dealing with new-born lambs.
“But moving into Southland there is clearly a serious problem with the availability of feed and farmers have been doing it tough there for some time. I have been talking to farmers and they are saying these are some of the worst conditions they have ever faced,” he told Dairy News.
Minkhorst says Ballance is now putting together a package that will help them though this bad patch.
The ANZ Bank has also put up its hand to help farmers, with Lorraine Mapu, managing director of business and agri, saying the current economic environment means many farmers are already doing it tough, and this extreme weather comes at a critical period on the farm – during calving and lambing.
She says they have got staff on the road talking with and visiting farmers in some of the worse affected areas, to get a better idea of the extent of the damage.
“As things dry out and the clean-up starts, we want to reassure our farming customers that the bank is here to work with them in the days and months ahead,” she says.
Westpac NZ managing director of consumer banking and wealth, Helen Ryder, says the bank is on standby to provide emergency financial support, but its top priority is the safety of customers and staff.
Ryder says it is making targeted assistance available for business and farming customers, subject to approval including temporary overdraft facilities and the ability to defer loan repayments or moving to interest only, to help ease some financial pressure.
She says help could include suspension of principal payments on loans for up to three months, deferred payment on credit cards for up to three months and a temporary overdraft facility.
Australian dairy farmers supplying Fonterra are getting an opening weighted average milk price of A$8.60/kgMS for the new season or around NZ$9.26/kgMS - NZ74c less than New Zealand suppliers, based on the current exchange rate.
Taranaki veterinarian Dr Rob Mills is the new president of New Zealand Veterinary Association (NZVA).
Input costs can make or break a season for farmers and electricity is one of the largest expenses.
Zespri says global sales for the 2024-25 season topped $5 billion on the back of strong demand and market returns.
Massey University is returning to the Fieldays with a future-focused, solution-driven theme, showcasing research that delivers practical advancements in agricultural efficiency, sustainability and longevity.
Newly appointed National Fieldays chief executive Richard Lindroos says his team is ready, excited and looking forward to delivering the four-day event next month.
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